RUTHFULLY YOURS

Another week another compilation of Israel’s remarkable and outsize contributions to the health and welfare and quality of life of millions of people in the world, brought to us by Michael Ordman. rsk

https://verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com/

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Retinal scanner for early Alzheimer’s test. Israeli-founded Canadian-based RetiSpec has developed the RS1, which uses hyperspectral retinal imaging and AI to examine the back of the eye. It can identify harmful amyloid proteins and other evidence that indicate Alzheimer’s Disease, even before the patient shows symptoms. 

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-duos-early-alzheimers-detection-test-brings-cure-one-step-closer/

https://www.retispec.com/

Osteoporosis screening for Scotland. Israel’s Zebra Medical Vision (reported here previously) is to trial its technology at the National Health Service in Glasgow and Assuta Medical Centers in Israel. It will be used to detect people at risk of developing osteoporosis.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-uk-teams-to-use-ai-to-help-flag-patients-at-risk-for-osteoporosis/

Pacemaker for the brain. For the first time in Israel, surgeons at Israel’s Sourasky (Ichilov) medical center implanted a Medtronic Percept DBS pacemaker in an epileptic patient. It records brain activity in addition to performing electrical stimulation. Medtronic owns several Israeli companies and has an Israeli R&D center.

https://unitedwithisrael.org/first-epileptic-patient-in-israel-gets-innovative-pacemaker/

Clinical psychology on your phone. (TY Stuart Palmer) Israel’s GGTUDE (mentioned here previously) has 7 free apps in its digital mental-health platform. It has now added GG Self Care, which provides a research-backed, personalized digital intervention for Covid-19-related psychological difficulties. Just 3 minutes a day.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Bt58YY0FI2f2oRNpl_IctNIFu2TnYQej/view  https://ggtude.com/

Crystal clear hearing. (TY Janglo) Tel Aviv University researchers have discovered that the hair cells in the inner ear, vital for hearing, develop before birth in the same way that crystals form. They proved this using new 3D time-lapse imaging technology and computational simulations of the development of atoms in the hair cells. 

https://english.m.tau.ac.il/news/ear-spiral

Use your phone to check your skin. Israel’s Derma Detect has developed an algorithm and AI applications for analyzing digital images to detect, treat, and manage non-pigmented skin lesions. The company’s platform analyzes images of the skin using deep learning and computer vision. Currently being trialed in Israel.

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/hillels-tech-corner-dermadetect-uses-phones-to-detect-skin-conditions-650413

https://www.dermadetect.com/  https://finder.startupnationcentral.org/company_page/derma-detect

German insurance gets Israeli vital signs. Israel’s Binah.ai (reported here previously) is partnering Europe’s largest insurance group, Generali Deutschland. The German company will integrate Binah’s health status vital signs monitoring technology in its new mobile application named VitalSigns&Care.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3876299,00.html

https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-threat-to-iran-us-sends-heavy-bombers-to-middle

Move comes amid reports and speculation Trump administration may take military action against Tehran before Biden enters office

The United States this week rapidly deployed several heavy bombers to the Middle East this week in an apparent threat to Iran, amid swirling speculation that US President Donald Trump plans to take military action against Tehran before President-elect Joe Biden enters office.

US Central Command said the planes were sent into the region “to deter aggression and reassure US partners and allies.”In a highly irregular move, the B-52H Stratofortress planes were seen flying toward Israeli airspace on Saturday en route to the base where they will be stationed, likely in Qatar. The aircraft were spotted on civilian tracking software approaching Israel before they apparently turned off their transponders, rendering them invisible on those applications.

It was the third time in the past year and a half that B-52 bombers, which are capable of carrying nuclear weapons and other powerful munitions, have been deployed to the region in tacit threats to Iran.

In previous cases, the bombers were not seeing flying through Israeli airspace. It was not immediately clear what accounted for the change in route.The planes were ordered on short notice to fly to the Middle East nonstop from their home base in North Dakota, refueling along the way in mid-air. The bombers were accompanied on the mission by F-15 and F-16 fighter jets, as well as KC-10 and KC-135 refueling planes, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said.

The Jerusalem Post reports on ‘World Herut’ announcing first branch in India
https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/zionist-movement-world-herut-announces-first-branch-in-india-649174

World Herut esxeutive director Karma Feinstein Cohne interviewed about the World Zionist Congress
https://jewishinsider.com/2020/10/world-zionist-congress-begins-as-factions-jockey-for-top-posts/

Herut partnered with 86 other organizations to protest new ‘Critical Ethnic Studies’ requirement at California State U said to threaten Jewish students
News Article: https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/10/27/letter-protests-new-critical-ethnic-studies-requirement-at-california-state-university-said-to-threaten-jewish-students/

The letter:  https://amchainitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Orgs-to-CSU-Ethnic-Studies-Requirement-10.27.20.pdf

New eBook Of Essays About Outstanding Books About Zionism Offered For Free by Herut “Zionist History Books & Jabotinsky: Collected Essays”

https://www.jerusalem-herald.com/single-post/2020/10/18/jabotinsky-honored-by-complimentary-new-ebook-of-zionist-essays

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/291749

J Street, in a mid-November email appeal, quoted an unnamed “top EU diplomat” in its tirade against an Israeli government call for bids for new homes in a nearly 30 year-old Jerusalem neighborhood, Givat Hamatos, where Ethiopian Jewish and Russian immigrants live.

What’s worse than J Street’s vitriol against the construction of Jewish homes, is that the name of the EU functionary was left off of J Street’s rant, probably intentionally, because he is an anti-Israel extremist who earlier this year gave outright support for terrorists. According to Israel’s Foreign Ministry, he stated that Palestinian Arabs affiliated with blacklisted groups remain eligible to participate in projects funded by the EU.

J Street is the controversial Washington, D.C., based Jewish pressure group that, judging by its actions, seems to have been created specifically, and almost exclusively, to lobby for an independent Palestinian state. J Street maintains, as a central theme, that Jews do not have a right to live wherever they choose and must be transferred out of their homes and neighborhoods in wide swaths of Judea-Samaria where Israeli citizens have lived for nearly fifty years.

The EU bureaucrat who opposes Jewish homes in Givat Hamatos in southern Jerusalem, and who was quoted by J Street, is a German named Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff.

Von Burgsdorff previously was the head of the EU’s delegation to South Sudan and in a May 8, 2020 JTA article, he was identified as heading the “EU mission to the West Bank and Gaza Strip.”

The Times of Israel news website reported on May 7, 2020 that an Israeli Foreign Ministry official stated that the letter by “von Burgsdorff, constituted a ‘violation of all our agreements with the European Union’.”

https://verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com/

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Israeli scientists reverse aging process. In the first trial on humans, Israeli scientists have shown hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) can reduce two key biological hallmarks of aging – telomere length shortening and accumulation of senescent cells. These factors lower the risk of cancer, dementia, Alzheimer’s and much more.

https://www.prnewswire.com/il/news-releases/first-time-human-study-shows-reversal-in-biology-of-aging–telomere-shortening-and-senescent-cells-accumulation–with-hyperbaric-oxygen-therapy-hbot-301176053.html

https://www.aging-us.com/article/103571

Gene editing to prevent cancers. (TY Janglo) Scientists at Tel Aviv University have used CRISPR gene editing in the lab to treat some of the most aggressive of cancers. They improved Glioblastoma (brain cancer) survival rates by 30%, but for metastatic (secondary) ovarian cancer, survival was increased by a huge 80%.

https://www.israel365news.com/161060/gene-editing-technique-successfully-used-for-first-time-by-tel-aviv-university-to-treat-aggressive-metastatic-cancer-in-mice/

A Prophet for predicting cancer treatment. Israel’s Oncohost (reported here previously) presented the results of its latest proteomic (proteins) cancer study to the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer’s (SITC). Oncohost’s PROphet host response profiling platform can predict the best therapy to use for specific cancer patients.

https://jewishbusinessnews.com/2020/11/15/oncohost-offers-new-hope-for-pancreatic-cancer-sufferers/

https://www.sitcancer.org/2020/program/annual-meeting-schedule-2020#tab6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihPi8YYRvLM

Hands-free diagnostics. Two Israeli companies OutSense and Olive Diagnostics have developed innovative devices that remove the embarrassing and potentially unhygienic procedure of collecting urine and fecal samples for disease diagnosis. Their real-time passive diagnostic sensors can be fixed to any toilet.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/startups-smart-toilet-bowl-scans-poop-and-urine-for-medical-insights/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cME7i4EfITk  https://outsense.co.il/  https://www.olivek2.com/

https://www.israel21c.org/keep-track-of-your-health-by-simply-peeing-as-usual/

Partnership to get fast medical advice. Israel’s K Health (reported here previously) has partnered with the Mayo Clinic to improve and accelerate deployment of K Health’s virtual therapy models. K Health enables people to receive comprehensive medical insights and immediate treatment in their homes.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3873713,00.html  https://khealth.ai/

Vaccine connections. Mikael Dolsten, Chief Scientist of Covid-19 vaccine front-runner Pfizer, studied at Israel’s Weizmann Institute during his doctoral studies. (Pfizer’s CEO is also Jewish.) Meanwhile, Israeli Chief Medical Officer Tal Zaks of top Covid-19 vaccine prospect Moderna, has just received a Ben Gurion Award.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-immigrant-and-top-pfizer-scientist-hails-role-of-us-immigrants-in-vaccine/  https://www.jns.org/ben-gurion-university-taps-moderna-chief-medical-officer-with-namesake-award/

34 lives saved in one month. Israeli NGO Ezer Mizion’s bone marrow database enabled 34 life-saving stem cell transplants in October. The transplants took place across the USA, plus in Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and of course Israel.  Thousands of new donors join every month.

https://ezermizion.org/blog/because-of-you-78/

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/11/pompeo-declares-golan-heights-part-of-israel-in-first-visit-by-u-s-secretary-of-state/

Pompeo also became the first secretary of state to visit an Israeli settlement in the West Bank.
 

GOLAN HEIGHTS — In a show of support for Israel’s sovereignty, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday visited Mount Bental in the Golan Heights, the territory that Israel has controlled since seizing it from Syria during the Six-Day War in 1967. He is the first U.S. secretary of state to visit the territory.

“This is a part of Israel, a central part of Israel,” he said, during joint statements with Israeli foreign minister Gabi Ashkenazi.

The Trump administration in 2019 recognized Israeli sovereignty over the territory, though much of the world condemns Israel’s claim as an illegal occupation. Israel and the United States maintain that Israeli sovereignty over Golan is justified because it was taken in a defensive war and that it is a crucial part of Israel’s national security.

Pompeo spent the day touring the country, where he unveiled several post-election initiatives to bolster U.S.-Israel ties. Stopping at the settlement of Psagot, he also became the first secretary of state to visit an Israeli settlement in the West Bank.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-to-formally-declare-bds-anti-semitic-pompeo-say

Speaking in Jerusalem, US secretary of state vows Washington to immediately take steps against anti-Israel boycott activists; Netanyahu hails move as ‘simply wonderful’

The United States government will formally designate the anti-Israel boycott movement “anti-Semitic” and immediately start cracking down on groups affiliated with it, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Thursday during a visit to Israel, calling BDS a “cancer.”

“Today I want to make one announcement with respect to a decision by the State Department that we will regard the global anti-Israel BDS campaign as anti-Semitic,” he said, standing next to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a joint statement to the press.“I know this may sound simple to you, Mr. Prime Minister, it seems like a statement of fact, but I want you to know that we will immediately take steps to identify organizations that engage in hateful BDS conduct and withdraw US government support for such groups. The time is right,” Pompeo declared.